3. Ccbccltgo. ] 87. AMARYLLIDACEJ3. [ 4. Aoavi. 



2. C- recurvata, Dryand. 



A herb with palm-like leaves 2-3 ft. long and yellow 

 fls. collected into a decurved head 2-4" diam. on a scape 

 8-9* long. 



Shady marshy places. Fls. May-June. 



Hypoxia aurea, Lour, differs from C. orchioides in the absence of 

 any beak to the smaller flowers which are borne 1-2 together on a filiform 

 ecape. L. linear. 



4. Agave, L. 



Stout shrubby rhizomatous plants with a short aerial 

 stem more or less concealed by the leaf bases, and with 

 thick fleshy spine-tipped and often spinosely-toothed leaves. 

 Flowers somewhat fannel-shaped, erect, paired or fascicled 

 on the branches of the panicle which is terminal and usually 

 very large. Hypanthium produced into a sho»t tube above 

 the ovary. Tepals narrow erect or slightly spreading. 

 Ovary 3-celled. Stigma 3-lobed. Capsule loculicidal with 

 many seeds. 



The Agaves are usually propagated by bulbils, which are 

 often formed in the place of the fruits. Wood relates 

 a case of one plant producing over 3,000 bulbils. The 

 following descriptions are taken from the " Notes on Agave 

 and Furcraea in India " by J. R. Drummond and D. Praia 

 (Bulletin No. 8 of the Agricultural Series, published by the 

 Bengal Secretariat, 1906). 



I. Perianth segments not constricted towards the tip. 



a. L. broadest in the middle, tapering to 



both extremities. 



L. oblong-lanceolate, neok sharply constricted • 1. americana. 

 L. linear-oblong, neck not constricted . . .2. Vera-Crut. 



b. ti. linear-lanceolate, hardly widened in the middle 3- Cantula. 



II. Perianth segments narrowed from about the middle 

 to the ligulate tip. 



L. straight and narrow, often spineless • . 4. ma I ana. 

 525 



